Unlike the majority of full service investors, self-directed investors MUST seek out information to aid in their decision-making regarding investments.
Did you know that satisfaction is highest among self-directed investors who use investment magazines and their firm as primary sources of this information?
The majority of self-directed investors (68%) indicate using their firm as one source of information, which is 4 percentage points lower than in 2011 (68% vs. 72%, respectively), and 30% of investors indicate that their firm is their main source of information, which is virtually the same as in 2011. Below are the top 10 main sources of information that self-directed investors indicate using to aid in their investment decision-maiking:
Not depicted above, but included in our J.D.Power 2012 US Self-Directed Investor Satsfaction Study, Sharebuilder from ING Direct leads the industry in the proportion of investors indicating that they use their firm as the primary source of information (36%), followed closely by E*TRADE Financial (35%) and Fidelity Investments (33%).
Data Source: J.D. Power and Associates 2012 US Self-Directed InvestorSatisfaction Study SM
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